Monday, October 12, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving Canada!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Big flakes of snow. It isn't supposed to stick around. I like how pretty this kind of snow is, but I should could wait for winter!I've been knitting a bit here and there. There's been a good bit on the go so the stick wiggling as been largely ignored. Fortunately, this was a pretty quick knit and someone even likes it enough to request another with a different order for the colours.

Surround WarmMaterials:

3 Balls Paton's SWS or any worsted weight that has some nice body to it. You will need 1 ball of each colour for a total of 3 (You will have lots leftover so you can make at least 3 in this size - child size small)

1 set of 3.75mm/(US 4) DPN's or one 16" circular needle.

Tapestry Needle

Pattern:

Cast on 66 or any number divisible by 4+2 with your first colour. Join to work in the round.

Work in double moss stitch (round 1 - k2,p2 round 2 - p2,k2) for 4 rounds then switch to k1,p1 ribbing for 2 rounds. Change to your second colour and work 2 rounds in ribbing. Change to your third colour and work 4 rounds in ribbing.

Begin increase rounds as follows:

Round 1: (k1,p1)x4, kfb, m1, p1 (You will have to juggle the last couple of increases in order to get them as evenly spaced as possible - you should have a total of 16 additional sts).

Rounds 2 & 3: k1,p1

Round 4: (k1,p1)x6, kfb, m1, p1 (You will have to juggle the last couple of increases in order to get them as evenly spaced as possible - you should have a total of 16 additional sts).

Rounds 5 & 6: k1,p1

Round 7: (k1,p1)x8, kfb, m1, p1 (You will have to juggle the last couple of increases in order to get them as evenly spaced as possible - you should have a total of 16 additional sts).

K1,p1 for another 2 rounds then change back to your second colour for 2 rounds of ribbing and back to your first colour for 2 rounds of ribbing.

Switch to double moss st (same as above) for the final 4 rounds. Bind off (I used the sewn bind off) in a stretchy method and weave in ends.It makes a close fitting neckwarmer that is finished in no time. You can add more increase rounds if you prefer to cover more of your collar. You can make it larger by adding to the number of stitches, you can even make it so you don't have to fudge the increase rounds by changing the first 4 rounds and the last 4 rounds to single moss stitch and making sure that your number allows you to increase in the first knit stitch after every 4th k1,p1 rib, then work a purl stitch before beginning the next set of k1,p1 rib.I even have another sort of pattern for you.

Them Socks Have Holes!

Materials:

1 ball Durasport sock yarn (sportweight). Not sure how much I used. The whole skein was 430yds and this is what I had left after making a pair of size 8 women's socks.

1 set of 3mm (no US use a 2 for tighter gauge and 3 for looser)

Tapestry Needle

Cast on 40 sts or a number divisible by 4 and join to work in the round. Work k2,p2 for as long as you can stand it or in my case, 10 rounds. Begin pattern rounds.

Round 1: Yo, k2tog, k2 to end.Rounds 2, 3 & 4: Knit

Repeat to desired length and prep for heel after the first plain round of the repeats. Work your favourite heel and once you've picked up enough stitches and rejoined the front of the sock, work your decreases while continuing the pattern on the top of the sock and knitting plain for the bottom. (I'm not good enough at heels yet to give directions on how to make them - there's a good tutorial here).

Slap on your favourite toe once the foot of the sock is long enough to make you happy, in this case, long enough for a child's size 9ish. Not quite big enough for Girly, but I'm working on another pair for her.

As usual, both patterns are copyrighted property of Dorothy Broderick and all rights reserved. I don't care if you want to make a pair or three for sale, but please consider donating a few dollars of your profit to the Heart and Stroke Association.